Waterlogged
by Lailuh
Summary: Peter's school has to be evacuated after a series of bombs. When he ends up being kidnapped by the assailant, it's up to a teammate to save him before it's too late. [Part ?/? It happened at School mini series]
1. Chapter 1

The day could've gone better.

It started out fine; Peter had aced his history test and Flash had decided to leave him alone for some graceful reason. He had been sitting in math when it happened, a tingle down his neck alerted him to it. The ground rumbled and an explosion was heard off in the distance. All the kids in the class got up to look through the windows and saw silos of smoke coming from what looked like only a block or two away from the school.

" _Attention teachers and faculty. We have been notified that a series of bombs has been detected in the area. The suspect is on the loose. Lock your doors and shut any windows or blinds you may have in our room. We're currently waiting for word from the police to start an evacuation."_ Principal Morita's voice called over the speaker in the room.

A second explosion was heard, this time much closer.

"Everyone under your desks now." The teacher called. She locked the door and went to lock the windows and shut the blinds.

"Dude!" Ned said from his place on the floor. "Do you know anything about this? Has this been a dude you've been looking for?"

Peter shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't heard anything about any serial bomber or anything. Could just be a whack job trying to get his fifteen minutes of fame."

"Are you gonna go and find out?"

"I don't think one of your distractions can help me get out of here this time Ned."

A third explosion went off. It was then that the other noises in the room started registering; some girls were softly crying, being consoled by their friends, guys were freaking out, and several phones were going off. Parents must have either seen the news or heard the explosions. He noticed his teacher and now Ned were on their phones. He knew May would call him as soon as she found out about it but until then he focused his hearing.

He could hear people in the room over, the same sounds as in his room. There were people running in the halls, students pounding on doors to get into their classes. He could hear sirens outside and down the street a bit. Police were setting up a perimeter across a few blocks. He tried to focus, trying to listen for any sort of indication that the school itself was in danger.

"Pete." Ned nudged him.

Peter snapped back to the class and looked at Ned who was gesturing to his phone. He had been focus on the sounds outside the room he didn't hear or feel his own phone vibrating. He picked it up without looking at the caller ID, expecting it to be May. "Yeah?"

" _How you doing kid?"_ The voice on the other line was in fact _not_ May.

"Heeeeey Mr. Stark." He had half a mind to laugh at Ned's surprised face. "Uh, as you would expect I guess. The school's on lockdown right now. We heard the first explosion a few minutes ago and the last one sounded _really_ close." His voice dropped slightly. "Do you have anything out there?"

" _We're looking for any bombs in the surrounding area. The first three were in shops near your school. Bomb squad got split in able to search any of the surrounding shops."_

"Who's _we?_ Who's searching with you right now?"

" _Capcicle, Eyeliner, Birdboy, and Rodney. Cap and Eyeliner are going to help with the evacuation; Birdboy's circling the area looking for any suspicious persons. Rhodes and I are canvassing for any weird radio signals or heat signatures."_

" _All teachers, students, and faculty. Please exit your classrooms and begin making your way to the front of the school. Follow police instructions for the evacuation."_ A voice said on the loud speaker.

Peter took a breathe. Half of the team was there and Cap helping with the evacuation would probably calm a lot of people down. That was good. "Do they have any idea who's doing it? Principal Morita said the suspects on the loose."

Peter watched as his teacher slowly open the door and peer out before opening it fully. "Okay lets go. Don't push."

Peter got out from under his desk and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He knew the standard _leave your things_ but his backpack had his suit and he wasn't about to leave the building without it.

" _No, it was only from a few witnesses saying they saw a strange guy leaving the scene."_

"What about-" his phone begun beeping. He took it from his ear to see another call waiting. "That's May."

" _Better get it. Don't give Aunt Hottie more of a reason to freak out. Call me if you see anything suspicious."_

"Can do Mr. Stark." He hung up with Tony and answered the other line. "Hey Aunt May."

" _Peter! I just saw the news. Are you all right?"_

"I'm fine May. Everyone's fine. We're starting the evacuation right now. They didn't say where we're going but it's probably to one of the colleges."

" _They didn't give any real information on the news. Do you know what's going on?"_

"Just that the suspect is on the loose somewhere. They said that Captain America and his friend are going to help with the evacuation." He could hear police outside telling students to get off their phones. "I gotta go May. They're making people get off their phones. I'll call you when we arrived at wherever we're going."

" _Well, okay. Be careful and follow what the police say. If anything happens… just please be careful. I love you."_

"Love you too May. I'll see you later." Peter hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket.

"So? What did he tell you?" Ned asked as they were herded through the hall. "Are the Avengers here?"

"Cap and Mr. Barnes are here to help with the evacuation. Falcon's getting aerial coverage and Mr. Stark and War Machine are looking for any bombs around the area." They had just gotten outside. Peter begun searching for Steve and Barnes and saw them standing on opposite sides of the pavement directing students into buses.

There was another twinge on the back of his neck, only it felt like someone had stabbed him. He grabbed Ned by his shoulders and forced him down. "Get down!"

An explosion rang out, only this time it was very, _very_ near.

" _That was in the school!"_

" _Oh my god!"_

" _The gyms on fire!"_

Students begun to scatter. Screaming filled the air. Police began yelling, trying to calm the students. Peter looked up to see Steve and Barnes desperately trying to contain the panic that was happening.

"You okay Ned?" Peter asked.

Ned gave a shaky laugh. "I know now isn't the time but I still think you being able to do that is cool."

Peter rolled his eyes. He felt a pressure on his back and noticed the wave of students still yet to exit the building. He helped Ned up who immediately got swallowed by the crowd and pushed forward. Among the chaos, Peter lost his backpack. He pushed his way to the side of the traffic to try to see it on the ground. He did see it, getting trampled and kicked by the panicking people. He knew he wouldn't be able to get to it but he couldn't afford to leave it and risk someone else finding it.

He stood off to the side acting as he was helping calm and control everyone. He caught sight of Ned giving him a questioning look. Peter sent him a shrug and gestured to his back. Ned nodded but his eyes suddenly went wide and started shouting and pointing behind him.

Apparently his senses had failed him in those few moments. He didn't sense the man walking up behind him and wasn't fast enough to stop the cloth being pressed against his mouth and nose. Whatever was on it must have been extremely potent because the sight of Ned yelling at him was the last thing he saw before everything went black.

 **AVENGERS**

Ned didn't panic when the bombs went off. He was freaked out of course but not in a panic. The panic began to set in when he and Peter had been separated by the crowd. He watched as his friend made his way from the crowd and started looking for something and when he saw Peter gesture to his back, he noticed the lack of a backpack. He also noticed the man coming up behind him and tried to warn him.

"Peter! Behind you!"

It came too late though. In a matter of seconds Peter was out cold and being dragged off somewhere he couldn't see. That was when the full blown panic set in. He turned around and pushed his way to the crowd, stopping only when he was free and next to Captain America.

"Captain!"

"Calm down son. Everything's going to be all right." Steve's voice was firm and oddly calming. "You're going to be fine. Just get on the buses with everyone else."

"No! You don't understand! Peter- Peter was…"

"Peter Parker? You know him?"

He took a breath. "Yeah! I'm Ned, his best friend. Cap he doesn't have his suit and-"

Steve's brow furrowed at the mention of the suit. "What happened? Did he go back into the school?"

"No, he lost his backpack and was waiting to get it because it has his suit in it but he was taken. Someone just took him by the front of the school! He didn't fight back and- god I think he was heavily drugged or something because he was out in like a second and-"

"Calm down son. We'll figure this out." He pressed his hand to his comm. "Buck, Sam, we have a suspect heading towards the back of the school. Be cautious if you see him. He might have Peter." He watched as Bucky immediately took off from his post and started running to the back.

" _On it."_ Sam called.

" _What?"_ Tony's voice shot through the comm. _"How do you know that? Did you see him?"_

"No but his friend Ned just told me he saw Peter get taken from someone. He doesn't have his suit with him."

" _Shit."_ There went the hope of trying to track him through that. _"Does he have his phone? The tracker in that is still showing he's at the school."_

"Does he have his phone?" Steve asked.

"He- he should. He shoved it into his pocket before we left class." Ned stuttered.

"It's possible."

" _All right. I'm sending you his coordinates Eyeliner. Tell me what you get."_

Bucky pulled out his phone and followed the map on his screen to the blinking red dot on the screen. The back of the school was eerily quiet in comparison. He could hear the sirens in the distance and the smoldering of the now destroyed gym but the screams of terror were almost nonexistent.

He followed the red dot until he was on top of it but Peter was nowhere in sight. He searched around the area until his found his phone discarded in a bush.

"I got the kid's phone but he's not here." A string of curses left Tony's mouth. "There's an indication of tracks leading further out and possibly towards the outer parking lot. I'm gonna follow them to see if I can get anything."

Bucky followed the steps through the grass to a chain link fence with a hole cut in it. No doubt that was how he got in and out. It led to a parking lot, full of cars most likely belonging to seniors and teachers. He put Peter's phone in his pocket and pulled out a gun and started going up and down the isles looking for some trace of the boy or kidnapper.

" _We got two bombs disabled."_ Rodney's voice sounded over the comm. _"Don't think there's any more, least not in this area. Anything on the kid yet?"_

Bucky was going to answer when a car in the isle next to him started. He immediately turned to it to see someone was sitting in the drivers seat looking extremely calm given the situation. He slowly approached it, gun drawn and aimed at the man in the driver's seat. He was a few feet in front of it when he saw a pair of tied hands through the gab of front seats.

"I got him." Bucky said hesitantly. "He's tied up in the backseat of a car in the back lot. Someone's sitting in the front revving the engine at me."

" _What are you waiting for?"_

Bucky kept his eyes and gun trained on the man in front of him when his stoic face suddenly curled into a terrifying smile. Cars started blowing up around them. Bucky was thrown off balance momentarily by the force of the blasts and that's when the driver started to move. He sped forward nearly hitting the soldier in the process. Bucky rolled out of the way and watched as it drove down the isle of flaming cars. He raised his gun to fire but didn't want to take the chance of a bullet somehow hitting Peter. He watched as the driver threw something from the window.

"Barnes!" Sam called from the sky.

"Blue SUV. No plates." Bucky called back, urging Sam to go after the car.

Sam watched as the car sped off and begun to follow but not before another explosion. It was from what the driver had thrown from the window. It wasn't like the others that exploded in a blaze, it let whine at first before a complete burst of energy. Sam's pack stopped working and he tumbled to the ground.

"Sonofabitch. That asshole brought EMPs? Literally _who_ has EMPs on hand and powerful enough to take out my stuff?"

Bucky got himself up. He was the only one who got a good look at the guy and of the car. He couldn't call to anyone else because the comms had been downed by the EMP so he ran. He ran all the way back to the front of the school where dozens of students were still being filed into buses.

"Comms are down for me and Sam. Tell Stark blue SUV, no plates. Watch for my tracker to come back. I'm borrowing your ride." Bucky barely stopped to tell Steve the information before running off again. Not a moment later he was on Steve's motorcycle, gunning it to the back lot in hopes of finding and following the car.

He rode through the streets, thankfully it was only a two lane stripe for a while. He went as fast as the bike would take him, dodging any and all cars as he went passed keeping an eye for the one that housed Peter. It was just before the traffic turned multi-directional that he spotted it; the same blue and plateless SUV that had been in the school. He could even see some scorch marks and a bit of paint chips from driving through the fire. The motorcycle rolled up next to it and Bucky peered into the back window to see Peter not just bound but in chains.

Something in Bucky snapped. To see a teammate like that, much more seeing _Peter_ like that… he was furious. He rolled to the driver's side window and pulled out a gun, tapping the gun on the window as he went.

" _Pull over."_ Bucky's tone was venomous.

The driver did in fact _not_ pull over. He jerked the wheel left and attempted to slam the car into the soldier making him swerve into the neighboring lane. He car sped up and Bucky kept right on it. It was really the only thing he could without risking an injury to Peter. His comm and tracker were still offline and he could only hope police were seeing what was happening and set something up to stop the car.

The chase seemed like it was going on forever until the car screeched to a halt, blocking off several lanes of traffic. Bucky stopped the bike a few dozen feet away and waited. It was a minute before the driver stepped out.

"Well! Looks like our game of cat and mouse is over with!" He gleefully shouted. "And what an audience we have! Magnificent!"

"Let the kid go." Bucky called. "He's got nothing to do with this."

"Not directly at least." He opened the back door and begun to drag Peter out. "Let me ask you something, do you think he'll make it in time? Tony Stark; do you think he'll get here in time?"

Bucky's brow furrowed. He _hoped_ Tony and the others would get there. There was no indication of his comm or tracker working yet but there was a large number of people watching the incident at the moment, no doubt putting it online. "Get here in time for what?"

"It depends really; to see his intern drown or save the people."

It was then that Bucky took in their surroundings: they were on a bridge. The realization set in, he was going to blow it up.

" _We're on route to you Barnes."_ Tony's voice rang in his ear. Thank god his tracker had started working. _"ETA two minutes."_

"Make it one." Bucky called back.

"Why don't we make it more- exciting." The man hissed out. He took out a little box and pressed a button on it. Explosions went off on either side of the bridge. "HAHA. Now _that's_ more like it!"

Screaming filled the air and in that moment, Peter jolted awake. He looked around to see people yelling and running. His eyes landed on Bucky and tried to move towards him only to discover he was stuck.

"Mr. Barnes-"

"There he is! The star of this is awake!" Peter turned his head to see an unknown man holding him captive. "Tell me boy, how long can you hold your breathe?"

Peter's head went back to Bucky, eyes pleading for some sort of explanation. He tried to get free from the chains but it occurred to him that, not only could he not but even if he could he shouldn't because there were people watching and he had to play the part of the scared high schooler.

"Ah! Looks like our co-star is finally here." The man said as Tony, Rodney, and Sam all touched down near Bucky. "Gentlemen! So glad you could make it to the ending of the show. I hope you've had a marvelous time! Please, a gift. From me to you."

He took out what was thought to be a grenade and threw it at everyone but it let out the same high pitched whine as the one in the parking lot.

"Get back!" Bucky called to the three people with mechanical helpings but it was too late. A force shot out of it hitting all of them.

"Goddamnit. Again!?" Sam yelled as his pack shorted.

"I can't move. Why can't I move?" Rodney questioned.

"How the hell does he have EMPs that can power down _my_ tech?" Tony shot out. He couldn't move or exit his suit.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter called out.

"We'll get you outta this kid. Just hang on."

"This is splendid! A beautiful performance!" The man cried. "Looks like he made it for the big finish!" He picked up Peter.

"What are you doing!? Put me down!" Peter yelled and tried to struggle from the man's hold. "Mr. Stark!"

"Let's make a bet shall we?" He walked to the side of the bridge. "Will the effect wear off before or after you sink to the bottom of the river?"

Peter's eyes went wide and his head whipped to the water below. The East River wasn't that deep but if he couldn't break the chains, he was done for. His head went back to the four men watching the whole thing and sent them a small smile.

"I'm betting on the latter." With that, he threw Peter over he side.

"No!"

"Peter!

"Kid!"

Sam shed his pack and bolted towards the man, keen on delivering more than a few blows. Bucky on the other hand threw everything down and dashed to the side of the bridge, stopping only to view the ripples from where Peter had dropped in before jumping in himself.

The salty water stung his eyes as he searched for the boy. Had he sunk so far already? The East River was relatively shallow in comparison to others but forty feet was still a long way down. He swam against the current, looked for any indication of where Peter was in the murky water when he saw bubbles floating up. He followed them down and was able to make out the image of the boy struggling to free himself.

He went in front of him, hoping that would calm him slightly. He went for his hands first; the rope binding them in a figure eight giving him practically no way to move them and he couldn't use his super strength to tear it apart because of the chains. Bucky was able to break the rope with relative ease. The chains weren't as easy.

His lungs stung at the lack of oxygen and he could only imagine how Peter felt. He could barely make out his eyes falling shut as bubbles escaped from his mouth. He needed to hurry or they'd both be goners. He stopped fiddling with the chain itself and went to the lock. Pulling it apart like it was nothing. He quickly shed the chains from his body and pushed up from the bottom propelling both of them up.

Reaching the top of the river and taking a breath was like a slap in the face, in a good way. Listening to Peter cough and suck in a breath just added to it. Bucky held the boy under his arms and more or less dragged him to the side. He looked around to see they had drifted down the river a bit but he could hear police sirens and see a helicopter circling the area.

He hauled himself and Peter onto the side of the river. "You okay kid?"

Peter took a few deep, heavy breathes before answering. "Y-yeah. I'm okay. I gotta give- give myself a two on the dive execution though and probably a zero for the splash. What did you think of my _innocent high school intern with absolutely no super powers_ act?"

Bucky rolled his eyes. The kid was still able to joke at a time like that.

"Kid!" Tony touches down to meet them. "Are you two all right?"

"We're good." Bucky said. "Light headed but good."

"Did you enjoy being a statue for a little while Mr. Stark?" Peter rolled onto his back.

"Hell no. The thing only wore off just after you surfaced. Now I know what all those people felt like when they looked at Medusa." Tony scoffed.

"What happened to the kidnapper?"

"Took a beating from Sam; only stopped when Cap jumped from the helicopter and restrained him."

"Did he say who he was?" Bucky asked.

Tony shrugged. "Apparently he worked at my company some years ago but was caught stealing tech and fired and jailed for a while. He's been on parole for a while before he actually decided to do something." He looked at Peter. "I'm sorry kid. This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me."

Peter waved his hand. "It's fine. Better me than some other kid that _actually_ didn't have super powers."

"Fat lotta good those did." Bucky murmured.

Peter sent him a glare. "What about the others? What happened to the school? Is Ned all right? Oh god- Aunt May's gonna kill me. Mr. Stark we need to think of an excuse because if she finds out this happened because of a stupid grudge-"

"Calm down before you hyperventilate. The school's fine. We didn't find anymore bombs anywhere and Ned's fine. He's holding onto your things for you. I'll deal with Aunt Hottie; make a story about you being a stupid hero or something."

He let out a tired sigh and let his head rest on the ground. "She's never gonna let me out of the house again."

"Come on. Let's get you up and checked out by the EMTs." Tony offered both him and Bucky a hand.

"I'm fine, just cold and tired."

"Your wrist is most likely dislocated." Bucky suddenly said. "And you nearly passed out before we reached the surface. Let the doctors take a look at you, if not for your sake then for ours."

Peter couldn't argue with that. He graciously accepted the hand that was offered to him and the three of them headed to meet the EMTs in the back of an ambulance. He was certain of one thing though; he wasn't going to cross any more bridges for a while.

 **Hmmm...**

 **This is just an excuse to write some Peter tied up at the bottom of a river and Bucky friendship. I don't know anything about New York geography and did my best to look up things to make it accurate but eeeeeeh. What can ya do?**

 **Hope ya liked it. See ya in the next one!**


	2. Chapter 2

Ned was fidgety. It had been half an hour since the first bomb went off and about twenty minutes since he last saw Peter. Cap could only give him so much information about what was happening.

"You can't stay here son. I know you're Peter's friend and you're worried but you need to get on that bus with your classmates and get to somewhere safe. Buck and Sam will find him."

When he saw Bucky race passed Cap saying something about a car, it hit him that Peter had been taken. His friend had been kidnapped by the bomber.

" _He- he doesn't have his suit, or even his shooters…"_ He looked around. Students were still filing out from the school. He looked towards their feet and saw a bag getting kicked around. He pushed his way through the crowd and against the traffic to retrieve it before joining Cap once again. "If-if we can get him is bag then-"

"Ned." Steve's voice was unbearably soft. "Hold onto that for him. I swear to you that we'll get him back. Do you understand?" He offered a small nod. "Then I need you to get on the bus and get to a safe place, for your sake _and_ his. Do you know what he'd do to me if he figured out I let his best friend deliberately stay in a dangerous position?"

That caused Ned to smirk slightly. "Probably do more than just take your shield."

Cap nodded, a little surprised that he knew about that. "I would prefer if that didn't have to happen again, so please- get on the bus."

Ned gave him another nod and hesitantly filed back into the river of students.

That happened twenty minutes ago and he still heard nothing. The buses had taken them to one of the nearby colleges where parents could pick them up. Ned had been sitting on the ground with dozens of other students, still clutching Peter's bag when his phone buzzed. He half expected it to be Peter himself telling him he was fine but when he looked at his screen he saw notifications from nearly every social media site and news station he followed.

 _BOMBER ON BRIDGE TAKES HOSTAGE_

 _HIGH SCHOOL BOY IN DANGER_

 _AVENGERS ATTEMPT TO SAVE HOSTAGE_

Ned's stomach was doing flips as he clicked on one of them, sending him to a video of a bridge blowing up. Another link sent him to a crude live feed from someone's phone on the bridge.

" _I can't believe this is actually happening."_ The voice puffed in the background. _"Holy shit."_

He watched as it panned between the four Avengers currently on the bridge and Peter and his kidnapper. He watched as the kidnapper hoisted Peter up and carried him to the side of the bridge.

" _No fucking way dude. He's not actually gonna do it-"_ The voice cut off into a yell as Peter went over the side.

Ned almost threw up. His friend had been bound in chains and tossed over the side of a bridge like a trash bag getting thrown into a truck. He watched through the shaky camera footage as one of the Avengers- Falcon it was- threw his wings to the ground and charged forward while Sargent Barnes leapt over the side after Peter.

" _Yeah! Get him. Get the asshole!"_

" _You got this Avengers!"_

" _Bet the shit out of him!"_

The yelling in the background of the video consisted of several onlookers yelling for justice against the bomber and cheering as Sam began to beat the ever living shit out of him. The camera was turned back towards the side of the bridge and the person holding it seemed to get to the edge.

" _Come on! You can do it!"_

The yelling from the few seconds prior turned into shouting as the camera panned down either side of the bridge; it was littered with people shouting some sort of encouraging words at the water, willing for the two submerged people to surface again.

It was perhaps the longest minute in his life. Ned watched the shaky video, almost chanting along with the people before two heads finally popped up from the water and began swimming towards the shore.

" _Yes!"_

" _Whooooooa!"_

" _The Avengers rock!"_

" _Oh shit!"_

The camera suddenly spun to see Ironman take a step before firing up His boosters and flying towards the water. It then panned up to a helicopter, a policeman or someone shouting orders for all persons to make their way to the left side of the bridge. The last thing that was seen before the feed was cut was Captain America jumping from it and landing on the ground.

Ned let out a breath of relief. They had gotten him just like Cap said. Peter was safe, at least he hoped. Who knew what kind of injuries he had received from the ordeal. It was another few minutes before Ned's mom arrived. Mrs. Leeds was hysterical when she found Ned, trying to comfort him from the general things that had happened but mainly because she saw him friend had been the hostage.

"He'll be okay. He's a strong boy; the Avengers will make sure nothing happens to him."

Of course he would be. He was freaking _Spiderman_ for crying out loud… but in those moments he wasn't. He was Peter Parker, an insanity smart and kind boy from Midtown High. He was a hostage in those moments and somehow that terrified Ned more than any super villain would.

In that moment his phone buzzed and he hoped it was a notification from another live video but it was a call from an unknown number. He answered it hesitantly. "Hello?"

" _Hey Ned."_ Peter's voice was like music to his ears. _"You doing okay?"_

"Wh- Peter! Am _I_ doing okay?" Ned practically yelled. " _You're_ the one that just got dropped into a river after being held hostage and you're asking if _I'm_ okay?"

" _You saw all of that?"_

"Yeah. Someone on the bridge was filming everything."

" _Well there goes me wanting to keep a low profile."_ He could practically see Peter rolling his eyes. _"Cap said you're looking after my stuff for me._ "

Ned patted the bag in his hands. "Yeah. I was able to get your bag and, uh, all your things are there. I checked to make sure."

" _All right, thanks a lot for that. Don't know what would happen if someone else had found it."_

" _Come on kid. I told Aunt Hottie we'd meet her."_ He heard Tony say in the background.

" _Yeah, yeah okay. Hey do you wanna stop by later? I'll give you a first hand interview on what happened and I don't think May will let me set foot out of the house ever again."_

Ned laughed. "Okay. I'll bring your stuff by tonight."

" _Thanks again Ned. You're the best."_

 **AVENGERS**

It was a few hours later that Ned found himself on Peter's doorstep. He didn't know why but it felt like his heart was in his throat, suddenly terrified at what he'd see behind the door. He knocked and a moment later May opened the door.

"Hello Ned." She lead the boy in and gave him a hug. "How have you been?"

"I'm all right Mrs. Parker, all things considered." He answered truthfully.

"I'm just glad you're not hurt. Peter though, I swear he'll be the death of me. He's in his room right now. Go see him. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you."

"Thanks Mrs. Parker." With that Ned made his way to Peter's room, knocking before entering. When the door opened he saw Peter sitting at his desk on his computer, a brace on his left wrist.

"Hey Ned." Peter turned to him giving him a small smile.

"Hey Pete. I, uh, I brought your things." He handed the bag over to his friend who looks through it. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I'm fine. My wrist was bruised and dislocated but that's really the worst of it. Gotta wear this stupid thing for a while." He held his hand up for emphasis. "Other than that I'm just a bit bruised. How about you? Steve said he was ready to force you on a bus if he had to."

"No way. He wouldn't really do that would he? To think I was so close to being man handled by Captain America." Peter let out a chuckle. "But I guess good; still a little shaken by everything but good." A smile crept onto his face. "So what happened? I saw everything prior to you surfacing from the river but that's really it. The news didn't really say that much either, only that the school would be closed after the attack and that you had been saved and the guy got taken away. Who was he anyways?"

"Mr. Stark said he was an old employee who had been fired after they found him stealing research and tech. Apparently he'd been spending his parole time developing EMPs specifically designed for Mr. Stark's suit from the stolen data."

"So that's what happened on the bridge. May's still all right with you doing your _internship_ after finding out your were taken because of a personal grudge?"

"May doesn't know it was because of a personal grudge. No one does except you and the Avengers. Mr. Stark told May and the media that I was a victim of opportunity after idiotically trying to save another student from being kidnapped; told everyone my selflessness and stupid idea of heroism and bravery probably stopped the situation from escalating even further." He smiled and shook his head. "He also said if he finds out anyone hassled me for an interview that he'd _personally_ ruin their career."

"That doesn't include me right? I didn't ask for this, you offered. Are you trying to set me up?" Ned squinted at him.

"Heh, no you're fine. You're pretty much the only person I'm allowed to tell these things to anyways."

"It's good to know I'm safe from his wrath." Ned's face was blank before a laugh escape his mouth. "Did you really say _Mr. Stark, help_? Going to change your job description to _damsel_ _in distress_?"

"Hey I thought I did a pretty good job of acting like a _normal scared kidnapped then held hostage high schooler_. What was I supposed to do with all those eyes on me?"

" _Oh Ironman! My hero!"_ Ned teased. Peter burst out laughing at his impression.

The two stayed in his room until May called them for dinner. The day had been hectic, to put it mildly, for both the teens. Being able to sit down and eat together, joking about the whole thing was a welcomed change of pace. Ned spared a glance at Peter.

Yeah. He wouldn't give up the hectic life he had for anything.

 **Hmmmmmmmmmmm...**

 **Yeah, this wasn't supposed to happen but after a very lovely review, _coughLoonycough_ , I figured I could give you another short little chapter depicting Ned's view of everything. I think it turned out nice and had a good time writing it. BUT this is it. No more. The story's over now.**

 **Hope ya liked it. See ya in the next one!**


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